Hesiod's Top 12 of 2024

[Hesiod]

I've had really good luck this year for my collection. 

10. Cilicia, Tarsos. Circa 425-400 BC. AR Stater (23.8mm, 10.66g, 10h). Bellerophon, nude except petasos, riding Pegasos flying right, holding reins in left hand and trident in right; below ankh / Bellerophon, nude except petasos, riding Pegasos rearing left, holding reins in left hand and trident in right; below ankh; within dotted border within incuse square.  lion's head in tile border. Müseler 9.3.1. Nomos 18 (2019), 203 ( same dies ). Roma XVI (2018), 331 ( same dies ). SNG Copenhagen -. SNG Levante -. SNG Paris -. SNG von Aulock -. Fine. Extremely rare, one of four known examples.

I've had the good luck, with this coin, to complete the entire set of known Cilicia Bellerophon rider types, composed of several rare coins from Mallos and Tarsos. The die style on the obverse of this particular example shows a lack of skill on the part of the engraver. The rider is holding a trident in his right hand, which logically should cross the front of the scene. Instead, the trident is implausibly rendered as crossing behind both the rider in the horse transversely, resulting in an impractical posture.

 

The rider holding the coin is most likely Bellerophon rather than an anonymous local hero, despite the unusual depiction of a trident instead of a spear. The attribution is supported by the tradition identifying Tarsos as a city founded by Bellerophon, tying the type to the city's foundation myth. 

Bellerophon, born in Corinth, was the foster son of Glaukos, and the son of Poseidon.After accidentally killing his brother (or, in some versions, a local nobleman) he was exiled from Corinth. Seeking purification for his unintentional crime, he traveled to court of King Proetus of Tiryns.

While at Proetus's court, Bellerophon caught the eye of Queen Stheneboea (also known as Anteia). When he rejected her romantic advances, the spurned queen falsely accused him of attempting to seduce her. Bound by the sacred laws of hospitality, Proetus couldn't harm his guest directly. Instead, he sent Bellerophon to his father-in-law, King Iobates of Lycia, with a sealed message requesting that the bearer be put to death.

Iobates however welcomed Bellerophon as a guest and hosted Bellerophon with nine days of feasts. Bound by the same rules of hospitality, he also couldn't kill Bellerophon directly, so he assigned him the impossible task of slaying the Chimera—a fire-breathing creature with the body of a lion, the head of a goat, and a serpent for a tail. On his journey to find the Chimera, he was guided by a dream from the goddess Athena. With the aid of the dream, Bellerophon found and tamed Pegasus, the divine winged horse. Riding Pegasus gave him a tactical advantage, allowing him to attack the Chimera from above. He defeated the beast by driving a lead-tipped spear into its throat; the Chimera's fiery breath melted the lead, suffocating it.

Impressed but still wary, Iobates assigned Bellerophon additional tasks, including battling the warlike Solymi tribe and the Amazons. Bellerophon triumphed in these endeavors as well. Recognizing his valor, Iobates eventually revealed the contents of the deadly message and offered Bellerophon his daughter's hand in marriage, making him heir to the Lycian kingdom.

However, success bred arrogance in Bellerophon. Emboldened by his victories, he attempted to ride Pegasus to Mount Olympus to join the gods. This act of hubris angered Zeus, who sent a gadfly to sting Pegasus mid-flight. Startled, the horse bucked, and Bellerophon fell back to Earth. He survived the fall but was crippled and shunned, spending the rest of his days wandering alone—a reminder of the perils of overstepping mortal bounds.

In one version of the myth, he or the Pegasus landed on the flat of their foot (ταρσός) which is said to be the site where the city of Tarsos is founded. This connection to the foundation of the city explains the coin coin type.¹

¹ For more details on the foundation myth of Tarsos, see Garstad, Perseus and the foundation of Tarsus in the Chronicle of John Malalas.  (https://archive.org/details/byzantion-06-1931/Byzantion%202014%2084/page/175/mode/2up) 

 

9. Crete, Gortyna. Circa 5th Century BC. AR Stater (21.0mm, 11.59g, 10h). Europa advancing right, seated on bull; below dolphin right / Facing lion's head in tile border. Svoronos, Crète 3,pl. XII, 22. Le Rider, Crète, 3, pl. XII, 22. Very rare. Some marks in field and on edge, otherwise fine.

One of the extremely rare early Cretan issues, along with the famous Knossos minotaur and a similar Phaestian Gortyna type. This and the Phaistos type should slightly predate the Knossos minotaur.

Zeus, enamored with Europa, a Phoenician princess of Tyre, transformed himself into a white bull and mixed with her father's herds. While Europa was gathering flowers with her handmaidens, she was drawn to the bull's beauty and gentleness. She adorned it with a garland of flowers and finding it tame, climbed on its back for a ride. Taking his opportunity, Zeus ran into the sea and swam to Crete. After reaching Crete, Zeus revealed his true form and proposed to her under a plane tree, a scene depicted on most Gortynan types.

 

8. Bruttium, Terina. Circa 440-425 BC. AR Nomos (10.0mm, 7.85g, 10h). Head of the nymph Terina right, hair in ampyx; [Φ behind neck] / Nike, holding kerykeion and bird, seated right on hydria. Regling,  Regling, Terina 29 (dies R/γγ); Holloway & Jenkins 35 (same dies); HN Italy 2589 (same dies); BMC 11 (same dies); Jameson 474 (same dies). Rare. Almost extremely fine, struck with a worn obverse die (as always for this type). 

Ex Münzen & Medaillen AG Basel 155 List (1956), 2, ex Münzen & Medaillen Deutschland I (1997), 38.

This was the final issue to use this obverse die, which had previously been paired with four other reverse dies. All examples exhibit similarly degraded obverses. This reverse die has an ambitious and elegant reverse style.

 

7. Egypt, Alexandria. Antoninus Pius. AD 138-161. Æ Drachm (33.8mm, 25.45g, 12h). Dated RY 10 (AD 146/7). [ΑΥ]Τ Κ Τ ΑΙΛ ΑΔΡ ΑΝΤωΝΕΙΝΟϹ ϹΕΒ [ΕΥϹ], laureate head right /     [L Δ]ΕΚΑΤΟΥ Hercules, wearing lion skin, standing right, club left holding the Erymanthian boar over his left shoulder with both hands, presenting it to Eurystheus on the right, in a storage jar, both arms raised in terror. Köln -; Voegtli type 12f; Dattari (Savio) 8484-8485; BMC 1046; Dattari 2596; Milne 1911 = Emmett 1544.10. Very fine, chocolate brown patina with malachite deposits. Rare. 

This coin, part of the Alexandrian mythological series under Antoninus Pius, depicts the fourth Labor of Herakles. This unusual series of large bronze coinage features various famous mythological scenes, showcasing exciting and unusual depictions on the coins such as this coin with Eurystheus in his jar.

The Erymanthian boar was a monstrous and aggressive boar that lived on Mount Erymanthos, terrorizing and destroying the surrounding countryside. As the fourth of his Twelve Labors, Herakles was tasked by Eurystheus, ruler of Argos, to capture the boar alive and bring it back to him. 
On his journey to the mountain, Herakles stopped to visit his friend, the centaur Pholos, who provided him with food and wine. However, the scent of the wine attracted other centaurs, who accused Herakles and Pholos of stealing the community wine. This led to a battle where Herakles drove off the attacking centaurs using his bow and arrows, which had been dipped in the Hydra's venom during his second labor. Amid the chaos, Herakles accidentally wounded immortal Chiron with an arrow, condemning him to eternal pain. Pholos also met his demise after accidentally pricking himself on a poisoned arrow while cleaning up the fight.
Herakles then resumed his pursuit of the boar, finding it foraging on the mountain. He chased the boar until it became exhausted, driving it into a thicket of snow where it didn't have the strength to escape. With the boar immobilized, Herakles dug it out of the snow and trapped it in a net. When he brought the boar back to Mycenae, its size and ferocity so terrified Eurystheus that he cowered and hid himself in a bronze pot.

 

[Hesiod]

6. Crete, Phaistos. 320-300 BC. AR Stater (26.7mm, 11.14g, 9h). Herakles, bearded and nude other than lionskin draped on head and shoulders, walking right, holding head of Lernean hydra in his left hand and raising club to strike it in his right; hydra coiled around his left leg; to left his bow and bowcase / Bull standing left. Svoronos, Numismatique 66, pl. XXIV, 23 (same dies). Le Rider pl. XXIII, 11 (same dies). BMFA Suppl. 125 (same dies). Almost very fine.

Crete, Phaistos. 300-270 BC. AR Stater (28.5mm,11.58g,2h). Herakles, nude with lionskin draped over left hand,walking left, holding head of Lernean hydra in his left hand and raising club to strike it in his right / Bull standing right. Le Rider Crete, 55 pl. XXIII, 14 (same dies).  Svoronos, Numismatique 53 (obverse die), pl. XXIV, 16 (same obverse die). Good very fine.

Overstruck on a Elis Stater, with head of zeus left (visible on the reverse at a clockwise 90 degree angle rotation)

Ex Athens Museums Duplicates Hirsch 16, 1906, 9857; Spink Numismatic Circular 82, 1974, 9857 and Galerie des Monnaies & Spink 10 October 1977, 214 sales.

This is an exciting type depicting the second labor or Herakles. These two coins represent the two styles of the coin: one with a more crude archaic style and an older bearded Herakles, and the other with a youthful Herakles. This type comes from a tradition of Herakles types from the city, as according to the historian Pausanias the mythological founder of the city of Phaistos was Phaestos, son of Herakles.

The Hydra was a fearsome water serpent dwelling in the swamps of Lerna, a region associated with the entrance to the Underworld. According to myth, the Hydra had nine heads, and its central head was immortal. The creature was known for terrorizing nearby villages, killing livestock, and poisoning the land with its toxic breath and blood.

Upon arriving at Lerna, Heracles covered his mouth and nose to protect himself from the Hydra's poisonous fumes. He began his attack by shooting flaming arrows into the Hydra's lair to draw it out. Engaging the beast, he quickly realized that each time he decapitated one of its heads, two more would emerge from the wound, making the creature seemingly invincible.

Recognizing the need for a new tactic, Heracles enlisted the help of his nephew Iolaus. Together, they devised a plan: after Heracles severed a head, Iolaus would cauterize the neck stump with a burning torch, preventing new heads from regenerating. This combination of strength and strategy proved effective. Eventually, they faced the immortal head, which Heracles removed and buried under a massive rock to prevent it from returning. Heracles then dipped his arrows in the Hydra's poison, aiding him greatly and causing him much grief in his later adventures. (See the coin 7 as an example of the latter)

 

 

5. Sicily, Gela. Circa 415-405 BC. AR Tetradrachm (27.9mm, 16.84g, 9h). ΓΕ – ΛΩIΩN Nike, holding kentron with her right hand, reins with her left hand, driving fast quadriga right; above, eagle flying right.; in exergue,barley ear. / ΓΕΛΑΣ retrograde Forepart of man-headed bearded river god Gelas as bull right above barley-grain; in round incuse punch. Jenkins 483 (O96/R192) (same dies); SNG ANS 99 (same dies); Jameson 191 (these dies); Regling, Warren, 234; SNG Locket 777; SNG Oxford 1740 (same dies). Rare. 

This is a particularly fine style classical example of the Gela man-faced bull, part of the last issue (Group IX in Jenkins) of a classic type from Magna Graecia before its defeat and sack in 405 BC. This issue is particularly recognizable for the obverse dies, which copied those of Syracuse, representing a modernization compared to the more rigid charioteers from earlier coins.

And for a bonus coin that matches this one:

Sicily, Gela. Circa 415-405 BC. AR Tetradrachm (24.4mm, 15.44g, 12h). ΓΕ – ΛΩIΩN Nike, holding kentron with her right hand, reins with her left hand, driving fast quadriga right; above, eagle flying right.; in exergue,barley ear. / ΓΕΛΑΣ retrograde Forepart of man-headed bearded river god Gelas as bull advancing left through reeds; ibis and garlanded altar before mid-section; in l. field, fish swimming up and above;, above barley-grain; in round incuse punch. Jenkins - (O96/R-) (same obverse die); Numismatica Ars Classica 114, lot 44 = Numismatica Ars Classica 9, lot 155 = Schweizerischer Bankverein Zürich 1, lot 52 (same dies); Numismatica Ars Classica 132, lot 191 (same dies); cf. Classical Numsmatic Group Triton XXVI, lot 47.  Extremely Rare, one of four known. 
Ex CNG 45 (18 March 1998), lot 82. 

 I initially bought these coins without realizing that they were obverse die matches. Based on the die breaks visible on the obverse, the issue featuring the man faced bull exiting the reeds must come before the issue with the normal protome. Furthermore, the reverses are likely carved by the same engraver, given the similarity in the style of the busts. Interestingly, CNG sold another example of the "emerging from the" reeds type, struck from entirely different obverse and reverse dies, suggesting that these coins represent an experimental type in between the more conventional protome issues that was then abandoned.

[Hesiod]

4. Mysia, Kyzikos. 5th-4th centuries BC. EL Hekte (10.7mm, 2.64g). Perseus, nude other than chlamys, clasped around his neck, kneeling right, head left, holding harpa in right hand and [head of Medusa] in left hand; below, tunny right / Quadripartite incuse square. Von Fritze 162, SNG Paris 312. Good Extremely Fine. 

Ex Roma Numismatics Auction 6 (29 September 2013), lot 646.

This is a relatively common coin type, and over the years, I've owned 5 others but none ever fully satisfied me. I expect this to be the final example I own as the only feasible upgrade would be one with Medusa's head fully on flan-unlikely to appear in a grade and price range I'd find acceptable for the type.
Perseus was the son of Danaë, a mortal princess, and Zeus, king of the gods. Danaë had been imprisoned alone on the top of a tower by her father, King Acrisius of Argos, due to a prophecy that her son would one day kill him. However, Zeus visited Danaë in the form of golden rain, and fathered Perseus. When Acrisius discovered Danaë had given birth, he locked her and her newborn son in a chest and cast them out to sea. They were rescued by a fisherman named Dictys on the island of Seriphos.
When Perseus was full grown, the king of Seriphos, Polydectes, who was Dictys' brother, desired Danaë and wanted Perseus out of the way because Perseus continually thwarted his advances. To achieve this, Polydectes held a feast, demanding each guest present him with a horse, ostensibly as part of a dowry for a marriage he claimed to be arranging. Perseus, arriving without a horse, boasted that he would bring any gift Polydectes desired instead. Taking advantage of this, Polydectes challenged Perseus to bring him the head of Medusa, fully expecting this quest would lead to Perseus's death.
Perseus prayed to the gods for help, and they responded with divine aid: Athena gave him a reflective shield and a sack for Medusa's head, Hermes gave him a harpe (a curved sword) and winged sandals, and Hades lent him the cap of invisibility. Perseus then sought out the Graeae, three sisters who shared a single eye and tooth. He stole the eye and tooth, forcing them to reveal Medusa's location.
With the reflective shield to avoid Medusa's petrifying gaze, Perseus approached while she slept and beheaded her. From her severed neck sprang Pegasus and Chrysaor. Perseus placed Medusa's head in the sack and began his journey home. On the way, he encountered Andromeda, who had been chained to a rock as a sacrifice to a sea monster after her parents offended Poseidon by claiming she was more beautiful than the sea nymphs. Perseus slew the monster, freed Andromeda, and married her.
Upon returning to Seriphos, Perseus used Medusa's head to turn Polydectes and his followers to stone, saving his mother. He then made Dictys king of Seriphos before leaving with Danaë and Andromeda. He returned the gods' items and dedicated Medusa's head to Athena, who placed it in her shield, creating the famous Gorgoneion. Perseus eventually returned to Argos and became king, while Acrisius went into voluntary exile in an attempt to avoid the prophecy. However, during a discus event at a neighboring kingdom's funeral games, Perseus's throw accidentally struck Acrisius, who was in the audience, fulfilling the prophecy by killing his grandfather instantly.

3. Egypt, Alexandria. Antoninus Pius. AD 138-161. Æ Drachm (34.2mm, 24.83g, 12h). Dated RY 5 (AD 141/2). ΑΥΤ Κ Τ ΑΙΛ ΑΔΡ ΑΝΤωΝ[ΙΝΟϹ] ϹΕΒ ΕΥϹ, laureate head right /The Judgement of Paris – from left to right: Athena standing facing, head right, holding spear with right hand and balancing shield on ground with left hand; Hera standing facing; holding scepter, head left; Aphrodite standing facing, head right; to right, Paris seated facing left, offering apple to Aphrodite; above Hermes facing, head left, left hand raised and pointed at Aprhodite; in exergue, L Ε (date). Dattari (Savio) 8848bis (this coin); RPC IV.4 521.2 (this coin). Brown surfaces with green patina throughout. Good VF. Extremely Rare variant with goddesses not on judging platform. 

Ex Giovanni Dattari Collection.

The Judgement of Paris serves as the prelude to the Epic Cycle of the Trojan War. Eris, the goddess of discord, was not invited to the marriage of Peleus and Thetis, the future parents of Achilles. In retaliation, she arrived uninvited and threw a golden apple inscribed with the word Kallistēi–"to the fairest." Three of the attending goddesses–Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite–each claimed the apple, and appealed to Zeus to determine who deserved the prize. To avoid offending the two he did not choose, Zeus declined to judge and instead appointed Paris, the prince of Troy, renowned for his fairness (having recently judged Ares' bull superior to his own), to adjudicate the dispute. 

Hermes guided the three goddesses to Mount Ida, where Paris was tending sheep, to render his judgment. The three goddesses attempted to sway Paris with various bribes: Hera promised dominion over Europe and Asia, Athena offered unparalleled wisdom and martial skill, and Aphrodite pledged the love of the most beautiful woman in the world: Helen, wife of Menelaus, King of Sparta. Enchanted by Aphrodite's offer, Paris awarded her the golden apple, offending Hera, Athena, and the Greeks, who were bound by a pact of alliance with Menealus, sworn during the competition for Helen's hand in marriage.

Helen's departure with Paris to Troy sets in motion the chain of events that would culminate in Trojan war, establishing the jus ad bellum of the Trojan War.

 

2. Lucania, Thourioi. Circa 400-350 BC. AR Nomos (19.4mm, 7.63g, 6h). Obverse signed by E… Head of Athena right, wearing beaded necklace and crested Attic helmet decorated on the bowl with Skylla scanning; [E] to right. / Bull charging right, with lowered head and flicking tail; in exergue, fish swimming to right. Gulbenkian 88. SNG Lloyd 476. SNG Oxford 930. SNG Lockett 482 (this coin). Rare. Scratches, otherwise extremely fine. 

Ex Leu 81 (16 May 2001), lot 27; Hess-Leu 24, (16 April 1964), lot 30; Richard Cyril Lockett Collection (Greek Part I, Glendining, 25 October 1955), lot 360; Clarence Sweet Bement (Naville VI, 28 January 1924), lot 225; and Michel P. Vlasto. 

This coin features one of the finest engravings of Skylla on any coin. The dog heads emerging from her torso are exceptionally lifelike and beautifully rendered on this die, a testament to the skill of this otherwise unknown die-cutter. 

Skylla is first attested in The Odyssey as a man-eating monster dwelling on one side of the Strait of Messina, opposite of the whirlpool monster Charybdis. In Greek and Roman art, she is depicted as a maiden with a ketos tail and dogs heads emerging from her torso. Hyginus provides an origin story, describing Skylla as a nymph loved by the sea god Glaukos. However, Glaukos was himself loved by the sorceress Kírkē (Latinized as Circe), who, in jealousy, poured a potion into the sea where Skylla was bathing, transforming her into her hybrid monstrous form.

This artistic depiction of Skylla as a hybrid monster appears to have evolved later in Greek thought. In The Odyssey she is described differently: as a six-headed, 12-legged monster plucking sailors off ships with her snapping heads, suggesting a land-bound predator.

1. Crete, Knossos. Circa 5th century BC.¹ AR Stater (23.6mm, 12.15g²). Minotaur running right, head facing, holding stone in lowered right hand and left hand upraised / Square Labyrinth with many rooms and hallways. Devoto, Some Remarks on the Chronology of the First Coins of Knossos, Series IV; Svoronos, Numismatique, 12, pl. IV, 32; Le Rider, Crétoises, pl. XXIV, 25. Fine, flatly struck, marks on obverse. Extremely rare with reverse labyrinth design.

This is one of my favorite coin types, depicting a classic Greek myth and the iconic symbol for Crete: the Minotaur. I never imagined I would have the opportunity to acquire an affordable stater of this type, as it is extremely rare on the market. Many examples are housed in museums with only a few new specimens listed for sale. Although the condition is not exceptional, the designs on both sides are distinctly visible: the Minotaur's horns and bull's head of the Minotaur are easily identified, as well as the unusual complex labyrinth design on the reverse. This coin belongs to the later issues of the series, which are rarer than the earlier issues featuring the cruciform-meander labyrinth type. These transitional series experiment with the labyrinth design on the coins, culminating with the striking Ariadne-in-meander reverse type, only known by the British Museum example.

(Electrotype of the BM example, formerly my collection; photo courtesy of CNG)

The myth of the minotaur begins with King Minos of Crete praying to Poseidon for a sign affirming his divine right to rule. Poseidon sent a white bull from the sea, expecting that Minos would sacrifice it to him in gratitude. Enamored by the bull's beauty, Minos defied the god's will and sacrificed a lesser bull instead. Enraged by his ingratitude, Poseidon cursed Minos by causing his wife to fall in love with the bull. With the help of the Daedalus, the queen conceived the Minotaur—a bull-headed man.
To contain and conceal the monstrous Minotaur, King Minos ordered Daedalus to construct an elaborate labyrinth beneath the palace of Knossos. The maze was so complex that nobody could find the way out, including the beast. 
Meanwhile, after the death of Minos's son during a sporting event at Athens, Minos waged war and defeated the city. As punishment, he demanded that Athens send seven young men and seven young women every nine years as tribute to be sacrificed to the Minotaur.
Determined to end the sacrifices,Theseus, the prince of Athens, volunteered to be a sacrifice. Upon arriving in Crete, he gained the affection of Ariadne, King Minos's daughter. She consulted with Daedalus and provided Theseus with a ball of thread—known as "Ariadne's thread"—to help him navigate the labyrinth. Theseus entered the maze, slew the Minotaur, and used the thread to lead himself and the other Athenians to safety.

¹ The dating for this coinage is dated to 425-360 BC by Le Rider in his seminal work on cretan coinage Monnaies Crétoises, based on the dating of several classical style cretan hoards he analyzed, with an earlier date proposed for these clearly archaic types–a stater of Phaistos depicting Europa, a stater of Gortyna similarly depicting Europa (see no. 9), and this type–assuming the issues were contiguous with those hoards. Yet, none of the hoards examined contain these archaic types except for one of the Phaestian examples, which seems to indicate that there may be a possibility that there was a gap in the issuance of these coins. The more widespread classical types may not have co-circulated much with these archaic issues, leading to the lack of depositing of these coins in the same hoard. See Devoto's paper, or her Long Table talk for more details about this reattribution.
² Based on the similarity of the weakness of the strike on the obverse and reverse positioning, the obverse was struck at 3h axis from the reverse

 

[El Cazador]

Great, voted for #10 and # 2

[Qcumbor]

Some nice coins. Out of my league, which is fine, as it's mind opening. Love the hekte and Gortyna stater

Q

[Herodotus]

Oh man, hard-pressed not to pick the issue from Gela...As I'll take a sharp 'man-headed bull' any day of the week.

Yet, I've got to go with Knossos here.  I mean, an AR stater with a damn Minotaur on it!!!

Excellent.🤩

[Brennos]

congratulations on these fantastic acquisitions !

My favorites are Gela, Thurium, Knossos Minautor and Terina.

Your videos are great, what is your set-up ?

[singig]

#2 Lucania it's simply the best. Congratulations !

[Hesiod]

4 hours ago, Brennos said:

Your videos are great, what is your set-up ?

Thanks! I use a Nikon Z6 attached to a copy stand, with a ring light and two different lights on arms. For the lens I use a macro lens (I have a very cheap 30 year old Tamron f/2.8 attached to an adapter, probably the cheapest part of my setup). I use manual focus on a high f-stop (f12, in all of these videos). Then I bring the coin up to the focused distance and do the rotations while looking at the camera monitor to make sure the coin's in the right part of the focused regions.

A quick and dirty picture illustrating it:

Edited December 21, 2024 by Hesiod

[Curtisimo]

That Knossos Minotaur! Wow. That is one of my dream coins.  Congratulations!

[Grudissius Minimus]

Hey @Hesiod

All of these coins are magnificent and getting to know the mythology depicted on them just makes them that much cooler!

Thanks for taking the time to compose these write-ups. I thoroughly enjoyed it!

 Cheers,

Groody.